USDA Announces Flue-Cured Tobacco Program

December 18, 2001

The U.S. Department of Agriculture on Friday announced the provisions of the 2002 flue-cured tobacco program and said that the no-net-cost assessment will be 5 cents on each pound of 2002-crop flue-cured tobacco that is marketed. USDA set the no-net-cost assessments at 2.5 cents per pound for the producer and 2.5 cents per pound for the purchaser for crop year 2002.

The national marketing quota for the 2002 crop is 582.0 million pounds, up from the 2001 quota of 548.9 million pounds

The price support level for the 2002 crop is $1.656 per pound, down 0.4 cent per pound from 2001. The national acreage allotment for the 2002 crop is 278,736 acres, up 6.3 percent from the 2001 allotment of 262,253 acres. For each farm, the 2002 basic quota will increase approximately 6.0 percent from 2001.

The effective quota is expected to be about 566 million pounds, or 3.7 percent above 2001.